COLOR DISCRIMINATION IN PATIENTS WITH KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS-SICCA BEFORE AND AFTER ARTIFICIAL TEAR APPLICATION

Background: The precorneal tear film is of decisive importance for the optical quality of the cornea. Poor stability of this film causes not only dry eye symptoms, but also has negative effects on optical funct ions of the eye, as previous studies on visual acuity, field test perf ormance and contrast sensitivity have shown. Methods: 60 patients with dry eyes randomized into 2 groups of 30 underwent color vision testin g with the Lanthony Desaturated 15 Hue test before and after instillat ion of artificial tear (test group) or physiological saline (control g roup) drops. Results: The improvement in color discrimination in the g roup given artificial tear treatment was found to be slightly better t han in the saline group but in both groups this improvement was not of statistical significance. Conclusion: Even though an unstable tear fi lm adversely affects the optics of the eye and even mildly degraded op tics can affect spatial visual tasks, color discrimination performance on tasks such as the Lanthony D-15 test does not appear to be markedl y impaired.